The present invention relates to a method of storage, in chemical form, of a quantity of mechanical or thermal energy, and of the recovery, in mechanical form, of at least a part of the said stored energy. The invention also relates to devices for the implementation of such a method.
At present, there is no practical machine for effecting the storage, in chemical form, of mechanical or thermal energy, and the recovery thereof, when desired, in mechanical form.
Electric storage batteries do, of course, constitute a means of chemical storage of energy which is usually converted from electrical form and then likewise recovered in electrical form. The drawbacks of such electric accumulators are essentially their high price and heavy weight. These devices are thus prohibitive for high power storage. In addition, the percentage of recovery of the stored electrical energy is relatively low, in practice, less than 50%.
The method of this invention makes it possible, by the use of simple devices, to store mechanical or thermal energy in chemical form, and to recover it at the desired time, with efficiencies that can reach and perhaps exceed 80%, based upon the behavior of non-ideal solutions and the vapors of their constituents.